Shaping the Future of Global Health Leadership

UNU Global Health's Director, Dr. Revati Phalkey, participated in the panel discussion "𝘍𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘣: 𝘎𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺'𝘴 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘎𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩" this week, held as part of 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 in Berlin. The session brought together international experts to reflect on Germany's role in advancing global health in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape.

During the discussion, Dr. Phalkey emphasized the importance of strengthening global health through: 

• Reinforcing multilateral cooperation and supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) as the cornerstone of global health governance.
• Investing in resilient health systems, pandemic preparedness, climate-resilient health systems, and sustainable health financing as essential global priorities.
• Promoting greater policy coherence across sectors and levels of government through a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response to health security, while strengthening equitable access to universal health coverage. 
• Advancing more inclusive and decentralized decision-making processes, with stronger participation of countries and communities in shaping the global health agenda.

The discussion also highlighted the need to move beyond viewing global health financing as charity, recognizing it instead as a strategic investment in healthier, more resilient, and more equitable societies.

Dr. Phalkey was joined by co-panellists Dr. Unni Karunakara, Senior Fellow at the Global Health Justice Partnership at Yale Law School, and Dr. Francisco Pérez-Cañado, Adviser to the Director-General on the External Dimension of Health at the European Commission. The discussion was moderated by Mr. Paul Zubeil, Deputy Director-General for European and International Health Policy at the German Federal Ministry of Health.